In 2017, 221,121 new cases of lung cancer were reported, and 145,849 people died of lung cancer. The numbers outlined below are from 2017, the latest year for which lung cancer data is available, in the United States at the time of this publication.
For every 100,000 people, 55 new lung cancer cases were reported and 37 people died of this cancer.
You can view lung cancer rates by state in the table below.
Area
|
Age-Adjusted Rate
|
Case Count
|
Population
|
|
Kentucky
|
87.0
|
4,933
|
4,453,874
|
|
West Virginia
|
81.3
|
2,176
|
1,817,048
|
|
Mississippi
|
71.7
|
2,647
|
2,989,663
|
|
Arkansas
|
71.4
|
2,777
|
3,002,997
|
|
Tennessee
|
70.9
|
6,044
|
6,708,794
|
|
Missouri
|
70.8
|
5,625
|
6,108,612
|
|
Maine
|
68.4
|
1,392
|
1,335,063
|
|
Indiana
|
66.2
|
5,379
|
6,660,082
|
|
Ohio
|
63.8
|
9,742
|
11,664,129
|
|
Louisiana
|
63.4
|
3,564
|
4,670,818
|
|
North Carolina
|
62.9
|
8,093
|
10,270,800
|
|
Iowa
|
62.8
|
2,557
|
3,143,637
|
|
Oklahoma
|
61.9
|
2,965
|
3,932,640
|
|
Rhode Island
|
61.8
|
859
|
1,056,486
|
|
Pennsylvania
|
61.7
|
10,929
|
12,790,447
|
|
Alabama
|
61.7
|
3,927
|
4,875,120
|
|
South Carolina
|
61.6
|
4,137
|
5,021,219
|
|
Illinois
|
61.2
|
9,429
|
12,786,196
|
|
New Hampshire
|
60.5
|
1,137
|
1,349,767
|
|
North Dakota
|
60.2
|
522
|
755,176
|
|
Michigan
|
60.1
|
7,887
|
9,976,447
|
|
Georgia
|
59.9
|
6,929
|
10,413,055
|
|
Massachusetts
|
58.8
|
5,141
|
6,863,246
|
|
Connecticut
|
58.7
|
2,792
|
3,573,880
|
|
New York
|
58.3
|
14,364
|
19,590,719
|
|
Delaware
|
56.7
|
761
|
957,078
|
|
Vermont
|
56.5
|
506
|
624,525
|
|
Wisconsin
|
56.0
|
4,234
|
5,792,051
|
|
South Dakota
|
55.9
|
601
|
873,286
|
|
Maryland
|
54.6
|
3,947
|
6,024,891
|
|
Nebraska
|
54.6
|
1,256
|
1,917,575
|
|
Florida
|
54.2
|
17,068
|
20,976,812
|
|
Minnesota
|
53.7
|
3,642
|
5,568,155
|
|
Alaska
|
52.9
|
363
|
739,786
|
|
Kansas
|
52.7
|
1,855
|
2,910,689
|
|
New Jersey
|
51.4
|
5,743
|
8,888,543
|
|
Virginia
|
51.3
|
5,219
|
8,465,207
|
|
Washington
|
49.6
|
4,349
|
7,425,432
|
|
Nevada
|
48.5
|
1,709
|
2,972,405
|
|
Oregon
|
48.4
|
2,640
|
4,146,592
|
|
Texas
|
47.8
|
13,427
|
28,322,717
|
|
Montana
|
47.4
|
692
|
1,053,090
|
|
Idaho
|
46.9
|
961
|
1,718,904
|
|
Hawaii
|
44.7
|
858
|
1,424,203
|
|
Arizona
|
43.3
|
3,968
|
7,048,876
|
|
District of Columbia
|
42.8
|
296
|
695,691
|
|
Colorado
|
39.8
|
2,418
|
5,615,902
|
|
Wyoming
|
39.6
|
281
|
578,934
|
|
California
|
38.8
|
16,803
|
39,399,349
|
|
New Mexico
|
33.7
|
905
|
2,093,395
|
|
Utah
|
25.1
|
672
|
3,103,118
|
Source:
- U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool, based on 2019 submission data (1999-2017): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Cancer Institute; www.cdc.gov/cancer/dataviz, released in June 2020.
Comparing Cancer Data
When reviewing a state’s lung cancer rates, it is common for people to question and look for explanations as to why their state has a higher incidence or death rate as compared to other states or to the national average. The following points should be kept in mind when comparing these rankings.
Racial and Ethical Population Differences
Certain cancers have different incidence rates for different racial and ethnic populations, for instance, breast cancer incidence rates are typically higher in white women than in women of other racial and ethnic populations, while prostate cancer incidence rates are higher in black men. Therefore, when making comparisons of cancer rates across states, the racial makeup of the state’s population must be taken into account.
Population and Health Behaviors
Some differences in cancer rates among states may be explained by differences in known risk factors among the populations of those states, for example, higher rates of lung cancer are found in states with higher smoking rates. Although environmental carcinogens may be responsible for some cancer cases, the majority of cases appear to be lifestyle-related.
Differences in Medical Care
Variations in medical care among states may also result in differences in cancer rates. In states where higher percentages of people participate in cancer screenings, more cancers are diagnosed early when the prognosis is often better.
Influence of Aging
The likelihood of cancer increases with age; therefore, rates are adjusted for age so that states can be compared without regard to the differences in the age distribution of their populations.
Measuring Burden
The importance of cancer as a public health problem in a state is more the absolute rate of cancer rather than the state’s relative ranking in incidence or mortality. For example, Utah has proportionately fewer smokers than other states and also has the lowest lung cancer incidence among the states however, in Utah more people die from lung cancer than from any other cancer.
Completeness of Incidence Data
States contribute cancer incidence data if their registries collected 90% or more of the cancers diagnosed. Because states vary in their completeness from 90% - 100%, rankings may vary slightly because of differences in reporting completeness.
